Tantoo Cardinal
Tantoo Cardinal, CM is a Canadian film and television actress.
Tantoo Cardinal | |
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Born | Caroline Rose Cardinal July 20, 1950 |
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 1975–present |
Early life
Tantoo Cardinal was born the youngest of three children to Julia Cardinal, a woman of Cree and Métis descent, and was raised by her grandmother, who nick-named her Tantoo.
Cardinal was raised in the hamlet of Anzac, Alberta. The lack of electricity inspired her to use her imagination while playing in the bush. Her grandmother nicknamed her “Tantoo” after the insect repellent they used while picking blueberries together. She taught Cardinal the Cree language, the traditional ways of their culture and the difficulties she would face growing up Métis in Canada. Cardinal has said that it was walking behind her grandmother where she first learned to act.[1][2][3]
Career
Cardinal has played roles in many notable films and television series, including Spirit Bay, Dances with Wolves, Black Robe, Legends of the Fall, Smoke Signals, Hold the Dark and North of 60. She was cast in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation mini-series By Way of the Stars with Gordon Tootoosis as The Cree Chief and Eric Schweig as Black Thunder.
In 2009, she was made a Member of the Order of Canada "for her contributions to the growth and development of Aboriginal performing arts in Canada, as a screen and stage actress, and as a founding member of the Saskatchewan Native Theatre Company".[4]
On August 23, 2011, Cardinal, Margot Kidder, and dozens of others were arrested while protesting the proposed extension of the Keystone Pipeline.[5]
In 2012, she performed the role of Regan in an all-aboriginal production of William Shakespeare's King Lear at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, alongside a cast that also included August Schellenberg as Lear, Billy Merasty as Gloucester, Jani Lauzon in a dual role as Cordelia and the Fool, and Craig Lauzon as Kent.[6]
In 2017, she was named the winner of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television's Earle Grey Award for lifetime achievement.[7]
In the 2018 film The Grizzlies, she plays a high school principal who is skeptical a first-time teacher can address social issues in the northwestern Nunavut community of Kugluktuk.
Personal life
Cardinal met her first husband, Fred Martin, while boarding at his family’s home during her high school years in Edmonton. They were married from 1968 to 1978 and had a son, Cheyenne, prior to their divorce. She had her second son, Clifford, with actor Beaver Richards. From 1988 to 2000, Cardinal was married to actor John Lawlor, with whom she had a daughter, Riel. [8]
Filmography
Film
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1978 | Marie-Anne | Tantou | |
1981 | Death Hunt | Indian Woman | |
1983 | Running Brave | Caroline | |
1986 | Places Not Our Own | Rose | |
1987 | Candy Mountain | Annie | |
1987 | Loyalties | Rosanne Ladouceur | Won Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role [9] |
1990 | Divided Loyalties | Molly Brant | |
1990 | Dances with Wolves | Black Shawl | |
1991 | Black Robe | ||
1993 | Silent Tongue | Silent Tongue | |
1993 | Where the Rivers Flow North | Bangor | |
1993 | Mustard Bath | Sister Amantha | |
1994 | Sioux City | Dawn Rainfeather | |
1994 | Legends of the Fall | Pet | |
1997 | The Education of Little Tree | Granma | |
1997 | Silence | Dolores | |
1998 | Honey Moccasin | Honey Moccasin | |
1998 | Smoke Signals | Arlene Joseph | |
1998 | Heartwood | Violet Boucher | |
1999 | The Hi-Line | Singing Bird | |
1999 | A Stranger in the Kingdom | Heaven Fontaine | |
2000 | Postmark Paradise | Reenie | |
2000 | Blood River | Claire / Mattie | Short |
2002 | Edge of Madness | Ruth | |
2004 | Memory | Ida | Short |
2006 | Unnatural & Accidental | Aunt Shadie / Rita | |
2008 | Older than America | Auntie Apple | |
2008 | Ancestor Eyes | Verna | Short |
2008 | Mothers & Daughters | Celine | |
2010 | Every Emotion Costs | Aunt Marcy | |
2011 | Shouting Secrets | June | |
2012 | Eden | The Nurse | |
2013 | From Above | Older Venus | |
2013 | Maïna | Tekahera | |
2014 | Down Here | Stella Mitchell | |
2015 | Hope Bridge | Lana | |
2016 | ARQ | The Pope | |
2017 | Wind River | Alice Crowheart | |
2017 | Ghostkiller | Aunt Rosie Stillwind | Announced |
2018 | Falls Around Her | Mary Birchbark | |
2018 | The Grizzlies | Janice | |
2018 | Through Black Spruce | ||
2018 | Hold the Dark | Illanaq | |
2018 | Angelique's Isle | ||
2019 | Red Snow | Ruth | |
TBA | Darkeye: CyberHunt | Pre-production |
Television
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1984 | Spirit Bay | Annie | Main role |
1987 | Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge | Little Doe | Television film |
1990 | The Campbells | Maria Brant | Episode: "Miles to Go" |
1991 | Lightning Field | Vivian | Television film |
1992 | Street Legal | Renee Stonehouse | Recurring role; 4 episodes |
1992-93 | By Way of the Stars | Franois | Television mini-series |
1993 | Harts of the West | Helen | Episode: "Auggie's End" |
1993 | Spirit Rider | Marilyn St. Claire | Television film |
1993–1995 | Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman | Snow Bird | Recurring role; 7 episodes |
1994–1997 | North of 60 | Betty Moses | Recurring role; 7 episodes |
1995 | 500 Nations | (voice) | Television mini-series |
1996 | Grand Avenue | Nellie | Television film |
1998 | Big Bear | Running Second | Television mini-series |
1998 | Cold Squad | Theresa Sandiman | Episode: "Salty Cheever" |
2000 | Navigating the Heart | Mary | Television film |
2000 | The Lost Child | Aunt Mary | Television film |
2001 | MythQuest | Walloha | Episode: "Red Wolf's Daughter" |
2002 | Tom Stone | Judge Crowfoot | Episode: "Royalty" |
2003-06 | Moccasin Flats | Betty Merasty | Recurring role; 22 episodes |
2004 | Windy Acres | Aunt Laura | Recurring role; 7 episodes |
2004 | H20 | Grand Chief Katie Blackfire | Guest role; 2 episodes |
2004 | A Thief of Time | Irene Musket | Television film |
2007 | Luna: Spirit of the Whale | Gloria Maquinna | Television film |
2008 | The Guard | Ursula | recurring role; 4 episodes |
2008 | Just Breathe | Heather | Television film |
2008 | Changing Climates, Changing Times | Grace Lajoie | Television film |
2009 | Tales of an Urban Indian | Dianne | Television film |
2009 | Dear Prudence | Ruth Vigil | Television film |
2010 | Shattered | Carol | Guest role; 2 episodes |
2012–2015 | Blackstone | Wilma Stoney | Recurring role; 18 episodes |
2013 | Arctic Air | Aunt Mary | Episode: "Skeletons in the Closet" |
2014 | Strange Empire | Pichette | Episode: "Lonely Hearts" |
2014–2016 | Mohawk Girls | Zoe's Mom | Recurring role; 5 episodes |
2015–2017 | Longmire | Marilyn Yarlott | Guest role; 4 episodes |
2016 | Frontier | Kamenna | Guest role; 2 episodes |
2016 | On the Farm | Ada Taylor | Television film |
2017 | Godless | Iyovi | Miniseries; 7 episodes |
2018 | Outlander | Adawehi | Guest role; 2 episodes |
2019–present | Stumptown | Sue Lynn Blackbird | Series regular |
Audiobooks
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2019 | The Testaments |
Music Videos
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2019 | Mehcinut by Jeremy Dutcher |
See also
- Notable Aboriginal people of Canada
References
- https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/tantoo-cardinal
- Actress Tantoo Cardinal to speak at IU's Native Film Series on Feb. 20: IU News Room: Indiana University
- "Tantoo Cardinal". The Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2009-10-02.
- "Governor General Announces 57 New Appointments to the Order of Canada". Office of the Secretary to the Governor General. December 30, 2009. Retrieved 2009-12-30.
- "Margot Kidder arrested at White House oil protest". CBC News. 23 August 2011. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
- "Aboriginal cast in staging of King Lear". Ottawa Citizen, May 12, 2012.
- "Tantoo Cardinal among those getting special Canadian Screen Awards". The Guardian, January 12, 2016.
- https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/tantoo-cardinal
- "Awards for Loyalties". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved April 2, 2018.
External links
- Tantoo Cardinal on IMDb
- Canadian Film Encyclopedia [A publication of The Film Reference Library/a division of the Toronto International Film Festival Group]